Monday, 8 January 2018

Some "Lion & Dragon" Medieval-Authentic Q&A!

So, Lion & Dragon keeps selling very well. The sales for the first month were exemplary, and this month, in spite of having spent three days in limbo thanks to RPGnow's error (you can read about that in past blog entries), we managed to crawl back up the bestseller list to #11. Please feel free to keep sharing the link in your social media to see if we can crack back into the top-10!

So now, instead of just asking you to help spread the news, I figure that even though there's already some reviews out there (particularly a magnificent video review where you can get a good glimpse inside the book), I'd answer some more questions that have come up.

So, here goes:

Q: just skimming through L&D pdf. It is beautiful. Quick question about class hit points, since the formatting and description vary for Clerics and Fighters versus Magisters ,Thieves, Cymri, Scotsmen etc. Should there be a "+" for Clerics and Fighters?Clerics Hit-Points: 1d8 (modified by CON) at level 1, +1 each level thereafter (not modified).

A: Yes. Sorry, that was clearly a typo. In all cases, all basic classes add their level 1 hp to their level 0 hp. So there should be a "+" in front of all the hit point categories.

Q: Am I reading it correctly, that if a player chooses his advancement each level rather than getting two random rolls, a 7th level fighter can end up doing 7 attacks per round?

For a long time now I've been a big fan of having the option of random tables for advancements at leveling, rather than fixed bonuses each level. So in L&D (like Arrows of Indra before it) when you level you have a table of bonuses, which you can either roll on twice, or freely choose once.

But on account of that, the actual odds of having 7 attacks via random rolls is ridiculously small, and to take it as an intentional choice is just dumb so I don't think anyone would do it. Because you'd get seven attacks, but no added bonus to hit, no bonus to damage, no bonus to parrying, no bonus to saves, and no bonus hit points. You'd be playing a very weak guy who could swing a lot (though not necessarily actually hit a lot).

I can tell you, from years of actual play, that from everything I've seen having multiple attacks at all is not a great advantage at lower levels. At those lower levels, having more hit points is probably a better option, and being better at hitting second. Having a second or third attack at mid or high levels is definitely a good benefit, once you're also better at hitting. This is supposing you're a front-line armored warrior.

If you're playing a ranged-fighter, multiple attacks comes out a bit better, but in most groups (unless you have lots of fighters in the group) it's not really all that viable to have a fighter who's mainly skilled at ranged combat.

Q: How much does it support sandboxing / aimless wandering through such things as random wilderness/settlement creation, encounter tables, procedurally created missions/adventure hooks, random NPCs etc.?A: L&D has an appendix that has a bunch of random tables for traveling in the wilderland/frontier regions. If that's not enough, there's also Cults of Chaos which is a whole 90-page supplement for creating NPC groups, specifically of heretics, witches, cultists, dark magicians, criminals, etc.

Note that the game is also supported by supplements in the RPGPundit Presents series, which also includes adventure scenarios explicitly in sandbox style. The first of these is already out, The Child-Eaters. The second, The Secret Order of the Red Lady, probably comes out tomorrow.

Q: Are there rules for invoking saints? If not, how difficult would they be to implement?

A: There are not specific rules for invoking saints but that's a fantastic idea! It would probably be very easy to houserule, using a variant of the Divine Intervention power Clerics have in Lion & Dragon.

But now I HAVE to write a supplement about that.

Anyways, if you guys have any questions for Lion & Dragon, please feel free to share them with me, I'll be glad to answer them! And keep spreading the word about this game! Thanks.